17 y/o interested in IB (from India)

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well. I'm a 17 year old boy from India... I'm interested in IB but the chances of breaking into it from India even in India is incredibly difficult as there are not enough opportunities and not a lot of universities where recruiting is done. I'm thinking of doing my bachelors abroad but I'm confused whether I should move abroad for my masters becauss I think having work experience would help me more? Also can you guys suggest me some universitities in Asia and europe? 

Thankyou so much

18 Comments
 

Masters is rarely an entry point for banking. MBA is more common. Be warned, internationals have to be top students at top schools to get looks. Companies would say rather take a domestic student over an international unless the international is that much better. 

 

This is absolute bullshit, personally know multiple people from Asia who broke into banking in the US with masters. You will be considered for Analyst position though instead of an Associate for which you need an MBA. Also there won't be a structured recruiting process like for undergrads or MBAs - but still doable.

Also, about top student and stuff - pretty subjective. Just don't flunk, network like crazy and something will pop up.

That said I absolutely advice against moving to the US from Asia (unless you have a full ride or H/S/W admit)- the living standard in Asia is much better than here (it's not the 90s anymore).

 

personally know multiple people from Asia who broke into banking in the US with masters

This is a fallacy of an argument. With everything, there will be people who manage to break in. It's survivorship bias. How many people do come from Asia and go for masters, and don't break in? I can guarantee it's a much higher number and much higher percentage than US undergrads. 

It's quite amazing to me to see how many people lack basic bayesian logic for something like this. You only see those who survived and made it into top banks, not the thousands who didn't make it to masters, and those who did but never got into banking. You only need to look at the employment reports from MSFs to see that it is not the default to break into banking, especially from lower ranked MSFs

Masters is rarely an entry point simply because they're cash cow programs that have massive foreign pools. Sure, there are great MSF programs aimed at trad finance, namely Vandy, UVA, USC, ND, WashU, and a few others, but you'll mostly find that MSF programs don't place a ton into banking and most end up in middle to back office roles. That's also highly dependent on getting into and being able to afford MSFs, which rarely(if ever) offer institutional aid. 

Also, about top student and stuff - pretty subjective. Just don't flunk, network like crazy and something will pop up.

Have you actually taken a look at some of the students and the labor market nowadays? Because to me, this screams someone who was hired in 2021/2022 when banks were expanding like crazy. I've spoken to students and young analysts with a great resume who simply don't get looks because of the current job market. Data backs this up too. That's not to mention the fact most places don't want to sponsor internationals and go through that process unless the person is actually excellent. I'm guessing you've never gone through the process of hiring an international student in the US, because the process is a pain in the ass, and every business wants to avoid it unless they can get someone truly excellent(or sometimes cheaper, but that's not really the case in banking). 

 

brutally honest - if you cant break in within india it really isnt worth it for you. If you can id highly suggest going down a 1. medical (its a lot easier in india) or 2. technology (cs +ai/ml) path, its probally best and if later down the line you still desire a banking role you can try to go to a top mba program and then get into banking

 

As above posters have said, please do tech. Also, this is an US centric, slightly global forum so most responses are highly biased to US. Given you have not provided any background of yourself, any answers will be generallised.
 

IB is absolutely not the end all and be all of careers. If i would do it all again, i would have done tech. 

There are more opportunities, more networking in tech. The stereo typing works in favor of you.

Please note, the stereotypical Indian is a  geeky/nerdy personality with zero civic sense, ethics or manners, so try to see how you can stand out from the rest of the millions.

 

Undergrad in the US Target/Semi if possible  --- easiest way to break in

 

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